Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report, Billings, MT

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, November 4, 2020

3,651 head sold ·Official USDA report

This is an archived report. See the latest Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction report →

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 steers $139.46/cwt ≈ $811/hd at 581 lb · 137 head

light 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $128.75/cwt -7.30 vs last sale · ≈ $689/hd at 535 lb · 94 head

light 5-weight M&L 1 steers $143.88/cwt ≈ $747/hd at 519 lb · 55 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	3,651	1,272	2,520
Feeder cattle	989	203	1,110
Slaughter cattle	1,617	834	230
Replacement cattle	1,045	235	1,180

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Yearling steers and heifers were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Unweaned steer and heifer calves were too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend, however lower undertones were noticed. Quality this week was mostly average. Calves were offered in mostly small to moderate size packages. Demand was mostly light to moderate. Fewer buyers were on hand this sale. Market activity was slow to moderate. Weigh up cows sold on mostly light to moderate demand for heavy offerings. This week packers started to purchase short term feeding cows for the upcoming holiday season. Most of these cows were thin to very thin and some had a slight blemish. Cow quality this week was mixed but high quality cows suitable to feed to premium white sold with the best demand. Many long strings of very attractive quality cows sold this week off reputation ranches. Feeding cows sold steady to 4.00 lower, with high quality feeding cows selling steady to 2.00 lower and lower yielding short term feeding cows selling mostly 3.00-4.00 lower. Slaughter cows mostly 3.00-5.00 lower, however only very poor quality, low yielding cows were purchased for immediate harvest this week. Slaughter bulls sold generally steady. 2-3 year old suitable to feed or rebreed sold mostly steady to 3.00 lower. 3-4 year old cows sold with lighter demand this week as lighter feeding cow demand allowed them to follow feeding cow prices lower. Quality was mixed, however many thin cows that didn't rebreed continue to be seen.

New to these tables? Plain-English explainers ↓

Feeder Steers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
355–358 unweaned	357	9	170.00–178.00	$172.65	$616	—
403–448 unweaned	422	44	162.00–167.00	$164.90	$696	-4.10
462–494 unweaned	477	27	147.00–168.00	$156.13	$745	—
503–543 unweaned	519	55	139.00–150.00	$143.88	$747	—
551–597 unweaned	580	123	137.00–146.00	$140.42	$814	—
594	594	14	131.00	$131.00	$778	—
615–623 unweaned	621	17	134.00–139.00	$135.77	$843	+1.77
925	925	9	134.00	$134.00	$1,240	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
496 unweaned	496	10	146.00	$146.00	$724	-1.00

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
492 unweaned	492	9	142.00	$142.00	$699	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1028	1028	2	124.00	$124.00	$1,275	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
328 unweaned	328	4	150.00	$150.00	$492	—
366–376 unweaned	374	21	145.00	$145.00	$542	—
417–440 unweaned	432	37	141.50–143.00	$141.99	$613	—
450–475 unweaned	468	21	140.00–142.00	$140.55	$658	-2.05
520–544 unweaned	535	94	127.00–133.00	$128.75	$689	-7.30
551–571 unweaned	555	42	126.00–131.50	$130.29	$723	—
648 unweaned	648	3	127.00	$127.00	$823	—
668 unweaned	668	3	120.00	$120.00	$802	—
915–938	930	6	122.00–123.00	$122.67	$1,141	+2.67
960–969	968	13	117.00–118.00	$117.92	$1,141	-1.75

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
311 unweaned	311	7	147.50	$147.50	$459	—
375 unweaned	375	12	140.00	$140.00	$525	—
400–448 unweaned	420	17	134.00–137.00	$135.32	$568	—
463–490 unweaned	480	14	127.00–131.00	$128.38	$616	-6.31
563 unweaned	563	4	120.00	$120.00	$676	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1012	1012	8	118.50	$118.50	$1,199	—
1062	1062	13	105.00	$105.00	$1,115	—
1085	1085	1	114.50	$114.50	$1,242	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
431 unweaned	431	14	125.00	$125.00	$539	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
503–524 unweaned	508	18	127.00–132.00	$130.85	$665	—
566 unweaned	566	5	129.00	$129.00	$730	—
918	918	5	98.00	$98.00	$900	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
434 unweaned	434	6	142.50	$142.50	$618	—
604 unweaned	604	4	127.00	$127.00	$767	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
850–938	882	85-90%	8	30.00–35.00	$33.02	$291	—
965	965	85-90%	1	40.00	$40.00	$386	+2.00
1111–1260	1134	85-90%	13	38.00–39.00	$38.83	$440	—
1052–1405	1145	85-90%	39	31.00–38.00	$34.39	$394	—
975–1435	1193	85-90%	47	40.00–49.00	$44.19	$527	-3.73
1193	1193	85-90%	2	58.00	$58.00	$692	+10.08
1053–1343	1206	85-90%	55	37.50–45.00	$41.62	$502	-11.71
1216	1216	85-90%	18	48.00	$48.00	$584	-5.33
1070–1400	1238	85-90%	135	45.00–55.00	$49.32	$611	+0.92

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1335–1421	1381	80-85%	23	44.00–46.50	$45.45	$628	-11.91
1142–1575	1392	80-85%	117	60.50–67.50	$62.92	$876	+5.56
1236–1680	1403	80-85%	146	47.00–60.00	$52.71	$740	+4.25
1310–1570	1487	80-85%	9	43.00–46.00	$44.36	$660	-10.00
1368–1885	1523	80-85%	10	46.50–50.50	$47.80	$728	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1460–1730	1595	75-80%	6	54.00–60.00	$57.48	$917	—
1490–1699	1643	75-80%	25	61.50–64.00	$62.86	$1,033	-3.92
1665–1773	1739	75-80%	4	64.00–66.00	$64.99	$1,130	—
1870	1870	75-80%	1	61.50	$61.50	$1,150	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1413–1810	1618	15	68.00–78.50	$75.53	$1,222	+8.86
1305–1943	1642	32	76.00–81.00	$79.05	$1,298	+12.38
1950	1950	1	74.00	$74.00	$1,443	-4.37
1915–2130	2041	6	77.00–81.00	$78.57	$1,604	—
2075–2255	2165	2	83.00–85.00	$83.96	$1,818	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
810–1215	981	(<2 yrs)	Open	109	63.00–87.50	$77.86	$764
835–1405	1051	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	37	51.00–76.50	$63.57	$668

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
842	842	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	80.00	$80.00	$674

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1085–1114	1093	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	24	950.00–975.00	$957.43
1087–1227 thin fleshed	1152	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	28	585.00–625.00	$604.78
1058–1413	1190	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	68	850.00–1,050.00	$974.14
1022–1272	1196	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	100	1,035.00–1,275.00	$1,165.27
1265	1265	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	15	800.00	$800.00
1010–1435	1284	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	44	725.00–810.00	$778.40
1214–1375	1309	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	28	900.00–975.00	$936.57
1213–1404	1327	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	176	650.00–785.00	$753.56

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1178 thin fleshed	1178	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	3	46.00	$46.00	$542
1216 thin fleshed	1216	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	4	45.00	$45.00	$547
1241	1241	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	7	49.00	$49.00	$608

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
983 thin fleshed	983	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	8	925.00	$925.00
1022–1042	1032	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	6	800.00–950.00	$875.73

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
803	803	(<2 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	6	810.00	$810.00
837–929	886	(<2 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	117	1,075.00–1,225.00	$1,177.89
1015	1015	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	11	1,275.00	$1,275.00

Medium 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
759	759	(<2 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	12	700.00	$700.00

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Reading this report

What does "Medium and Large 1" mean?

USDA feeder grades describe frame size and muscle thickness, not quality of the individual animal. "Medium and Large" is the frame score; the number is muscle (1 = heaviest muscled). "Medium and Large 1–2" pens mix both muscle scores — common across the Southeast.

What is $/cwt?

Dollars per hundredweight — per 100 lb of animal. A 500-lb calf at $450/cwt brings 5 × $450 = $2,250. Lighter cattle usually bring more per cwt but less per head.

Why are some prices per head?

Bred cows, cow-calf pairs, and some replacement classes sell by the head, not by weight. We show those exactly as USDA reports them — a $/head figure is never converted into $/cwt on this site.

Where do these numbers come from?

From the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service's Livestock Market News — federal reporters at the sale. We publish each report in full and link the official USDA document at the top of the page.